1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a publication viewer. More specifically, the invention is an optical viewer for sequentially displaying characters, texts, and pictures stored on rectangular sheets within an enclosure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Publication viewers have been described in the patent literature. The prior art viewers, however, tend to be complex and bulky, resulting in higher manufacturing costs. Further, thus indexing system of the present invention allows for multi-speed viewing, so that printed text pages are held stationary for reading, while at high speed the viewer produces animation by quickly and sequentially displaying picture or drawing sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,334, issued on Dec. 2, 1980 to Kimura, discloses a rotary type information retrieving machine. The machine is designed to bring a plurality of information cards into viewing position by pressing a single key. This viewer has a rather complex control mechanism that is not suited to sequentially displaying the cards either in a slow speed or a high speed mode.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,240, issued on Nov. 17, 1992 to Byers, shows a photo display device that stores as well as displays photographs. The device can be manually or motor driven (AC or DC), and displays two photos at a time. Photos are displayed sequentially, but high speed or multiple speeds are not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,804, issued on Nov. 29, 1994 to Domberg et al., discusses an indicating register that displays magazines. The pages of the magazine include page appendages made of magnetic material for coupling with a magnetic follower. While pages are displayed sequentially, high speed or multiple speeds are not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,630, issued on Dec. 26, 1995 to Tornow et al., discloses a split flap display device that sequentially displays a plurality of panels. The panels are mounted on a rotor shaft that is easily removed from the display device. Multi-speed viewing is not discussed.
In addition to the above patents, several other patents directed toward publication viewers are known. U.S. Design Pat. No. 280,517, issued on Sep. 10, 1985 to Alsup, Jr. et al. shows an ornamental design for a transparency viewer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,619,922, issued on Nov. 16, 1971 to Morgan et al. discloses a changeable exhibitor that sequentially presents a plurality of printed sheets for viewing. The sheets may be manually or mechanically activated for viewing at the display window. U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,540, issued on Jan. 8, 1974 to Barclay, shows a viewing apparatus that stores and displays a plurality of flat objects at a viewing window. U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,071, issued on Jan. 8, 1980 to Todokoro, discloses a toy television set whereby pictures, characters, and text on a plurality of leaves are displayed in succession through a transparent screen.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a publication viewer solving the aforementioned problems is desired.